Just try and keep up

The Shins concert + time of the month + week 11 of marathon training

Hello!! Not too much to report this week. This week was super low key, mostly filled with recovering from Costa Rica and getting my life back together.

The highlight by far was seeing my favorite band of all time, The Shins at Music Hall of Williamsburg! I actually didn’t even know they were in town until the day before (#badfan), but got very lucky in getting last minute tickets and enjoyed the concert solo.

It was hands down the best concert I’ve ever seen in my life. They are SO GREAT live. They didn’t just play the songs like the album versions, but switched it up and made it their own. James Mercer, the main singer, is the best lyricist he writes all the songs. He was my phone background all through high school :P. One of the best nights of my life. I almost cried when they played “Australia.”

Other than that, this week was filled with lots of studying, running, and seeing some friends here and there. You know you’re in serious study mode when you’re carrying all your study material in a huge triathlon backpack.

Week 11 of Marathon Training

This week of training was alright. I’m happy to have logged each mile on the plan. I am a tad worried about my fitness level right now. It’s 4 weeks until marathon day, calling for peak mileage this time, so it wasn’t the ideal time to take a whole week off from running in Costa Rica last week. But I made it a priority to just log each mile this week, no matter how fast or slow, and have faith in my training.

All in all, I felt pretty fatigued/heavy on most of the runs, and I think it’s a direct result of it being that “time of the month” for me…(sorry if this is TMI for y’all, but I think it’s an important thing to discuss among female runners and we should not be ashamed!!). I’m extra worried because 4 weeks until race day = it will also be that time of the month for me on race day…see below on how I felt during my long run. Will things be the same for my marathon!?! I would be devastated if all this hard work went to waste because of my period cycle…

If any runner has any comments/tips on racing while PMSing/on their periods, I would SO appreciate hearing from you either in comments or email!!

Monday: 5 miles along the East River (9:31 pace). Legs felt fresh after a break from running in Costa Rica.

Tuesday: 5 miles on treadmill (just under 10:00 pace). I had 8 miles on the plan but part way through decided to swap that for Thursday’s run. My legs felt like jello from the day before and I didn’t have it in me…

Wednesday: REST

Thursday: 8 miles outside (10:40 pace) – slowish pace since 1) half of it was spent tiptoeing on snow/ice (we had a pretty big storm in NYC this week!) and 2) major PMS-ing. This run wasn’t easy, but quitting wasn’t an option since I really needed this run to think through some life things; and so it went by pretty fast.

Friday: REST

Saturday: REST

Sunday: 16 miles. Hardest long run of the cycle yet. I felt soooo fatigued the entire time, my legs felt super heavy, and I never quite got in the groove. I’m proud for pushing through it, despite seriously considering quitting around mile 12. The last 3 miles were walk/run-ing.

Hello, I’m Charlotte! I’m a 5x marathoner, 10x half marathoner, and 2x triathlete. This blog focuses on my journey training for races, balancing life as a working gal in San Francisco, my wonderful friends and family, and all the beauty in between. Thanks for stopping by :)